The evening world. Newspaper, December 16, 1911, Page 3

ING WORLD N SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 191 8 Gaynor’s School in Skeeterboro Doesn’t Stand Test, rate And It Is Run as It Was When the Mayor Was a Pupil Alas, the Children in the Birthplace of the City’s Chief Magistrate Ate Wofully Lacking, Not Only in| General Knowledge, but Tuey Ate) Ignorant ot Important Historical Happenings That Occurred Right Near the Little Old schoolhouse. of the ye Engiiah under St. Ledger t. Stanwix, This battle egret for "i ey the Americans. It teok place their door and the ebil- basa Country Schools and Scholars |; Don't ® Prize Scholar Outshine |} Those |} inthe |} City, | idp’t know a solitary thing sbeut Outside it was raining, but the air was Rolling hills etretched away en either aide. This was the Mohawk Val- ley famed in story. Here was the kind of country school advorated by Mayor Gaynor. In fect here was the very echool he had binpett a : in Grammar School| at Whitestone, Also in the Gaynor) Region, Does Very Well With, City Examination Paper of Same! Grade as His, but Nathan Aron-} ofsky of the East Side Makes Bet- ter Showing With Country Lad’s Papers. hoys of twenty 4i re learning to be good American citizens. To this achool wert the reporter, asking for a representative Pupil of the eighth grade. ENTER NATHAN, A DISTRICT AT- TORNEY,, AGED THIRTEEN. The principal vent for thirteen-year- old Nathan Aronofsky. Nathan hol@e the office of District Attorney in the achool self-governing system. While Nathan was on his way down stairs the pringpal, although he did not fear the test of the country school, thought ft, well to Impress some facts on the fee Porter's mind. “We labor under @ disadvantage im ny fads and too much froth fn the City's schools” He was speaking to eleven newly elected Members of the Board of Education on the night of their !nauguration. He deplored the fact that there were only eleven members present. He wanted 4o tell all the others just what he thought of the light and frivolous bs heeled were golng educationally. There was none of the old simplic- “There. are too m @aid Mayor Gaynor a week ago. ityAthat makes for true education 4 In the course of his remarks about rushing the pupils and “crowding this ee aaecniantt Bak fd the ‘a their brains” he drew a simile that was quoted for nearly a whole day. It het Gay, ‘The rest of the time they 4 related to the speed of a squadron being that of the slowest ship and the} INTERIOR: OF THE SKEETERBORO, ey a ee k) Speed of a clase in school taking @ similar way. SCHOO STOU SE. 0 leard aftything god .aeee P| sof the ain He alghod for the good old ds “gestrick skule,” the three ‘eltin’ an’ ‘rithinatic. Away with froth and frivolities in the schoo! cur-* rievlums, a bas French and German down with manua! faking, knitting, stitel all the rest. Haus 1 the “overworked” bi Back to the pure and undefil @f instruction affecting dvsness OF ‘Uttle old schoo! house of my boyhood hard-fisted peday: birch rod or harness three R's hammered asking. Result? Great “ know that was my Iwas in the common schools myself. 1 began in the district school, When 1 went to the village school 1 noticed !t was easy to discourage children, al-| though we were taurcht only the essen- tiata, onty a few things.” Im Ghis extract from Involuntary ad- str in. without Men. Get your it? perience when rou wi - 7 like In the ollen days. ‘The report miasions cts his atti-| D1d_you wish to speak to some one’ be in days. ‘The reporter tube Lidge janet AKy HserLIBl “Yes, The priacipal of the grammar] )ade many iguities. tea, indeed, tow: pr 8 " stanmered the newepaper man, | 7 ee Ma rsh 1 a man. His name was proviems. \|abashed ut the presence of 90 much] Aonm uananeld. and the reporter would THE EVENING WORLD DECIDES | femininity. nd him digking a ditch up the road ON A TEST. ‘The Mayor's statement agitated the ttoughttul taxpayers of Now York. Wu: fe Grue the cy was spending millions fer education and getting poor resu'ts?, No amoum of argument could prove an,-| thing. @ome comparison, actual and real, must be made. The Evening Word) thought It would be a good idea to com-| Pare the two. Why not make a test of! {t? See what the country boy and the, city doy, age for nd class for class, had learned in the way of genera! edu- cation. | Of course, the argument from @ ro mantic point of view was already wood as settled. Thero was nothing ( {t but the good old country achoob Such | fond nothings as “low Dear to My Heart Are the Scenes of My Childhood” and the “Little Red School House on the HIN" came up In battalions to prove: the superionty of the good o!d days. hat could compare with the o!d Beestrick skule?" Remember Its ol!d- ity, “Remember the olf schoolmaster» thundering eloquence on Independence | Day. Are there any such teachers now? country school taught the “three Re" wisely and well. What great men gathered wisdom within its map-hung walle? What gexiua was nurtured and foprished under its bexefcent guid- ance? Where did all the great a! men and @ll the other great men come from anyway? Indood, at Sret glance, | the city sotool had no chance at ell. Zt did the best 1t could perhaps, but ite method was entirely wrong. However, Just to be fair in the matter, it wi Fesolved to give it the benefit of a» trial and let It 00 If. New York’ yor advocated the country echool, Ho spoke feellngly aboutlt, Consequently he must be think~ ing of some particular country school. If we could only find ¢hat school and no diffoulty in showing what a real school was like, One of the brainy hired bands in The Firat Gnd where the Mayor was born, ‘The rest would be easy. Clever, wasn't 4t? But now came the pom, Just where was the Mayor born? PUZZLE—WHERE WAS GAYNOR BORN? 2% hes always deen the fate of great men Co have several cities claiming them when they are dead. Seven cities gre Homer dead. A dosen will dhow you the house born. Likewise several are already claiming One of these ts Utica, Now, om three separate and distinct oc- (@e Mayor has refused to be- stew the honor of his birth on that city, there wae no use trying there. In the American “Who's Who''—yes, his aame te there-—it gives Whitestown, N. five miles from Utica, as the lucky ‘awa. “Who's Who" also a! ttended Whitestown Seminary. seminaries occur after district echools. The only thing left was ta find the Whitestown grammar school. Marvel- lous piece of deduction, but all wrong as you will presently see. ‘The Evening World reporter went to Whitestown and located the grammar school, Guide books said It had been standing over seventy-five years, The guide book must have been right, Such weather beaten exteriors come only after | jong struggles with wind and rain. Al| rambling two-story wooden structure, ite present shape wid of wings add from time to {ime as the eloquence of some tongue ip the cause i Oe be duck of bavnyard fame was a cuchess. | loomened the town purse. About {t nes- tled trim houses with etraw-covered garden plots in front, Took It u ” ‘ ip under Lorimer.” Afterwards With a certain degree of reverence | he told the exact method of election in e reporter walked up the flagstone |the state Lenisiatures, even going Into Path, Here was one of the sacred be-|the politics of the election #nnings of American education, Inside) Evidentiy rf the door among the hats and coats and dently the Whitestown school was y like a elty school. As a pn country school and city School tt had failed of its original in- tention, Here were the same “fads and froth” wh Mayor Gaynor had de- cried, rything Heht Was on the bill ° ting a bowing ac- jerman, 1 like the Mayor mbered and held a ie of what a school 1 be, The whole tone was modern from the manual training class to the piano upstairs, which still rocked and trembled to the ragtime strains, tunch boxes hung from rows of wooden pegs the reporter came to a sudden stop. was none of the old standbys like “America” or “Columbia, Gom of the Ocoan.” There was something stout it elusive, rythmic, synco- pated, lilting. Louder and louder it came, accompanied by the scuf- on and hear! Shades of an- ! It was “Alcx- rospectabilit: ac thre at mine flew th There now apparently remained but “3 three a e Y the: dunvers a goodly {One thing, Some one who knew Mayor Gaynor as a boy and attended school with him must be found and interviewed, alone could tell what the real school about ne forward, “This is the High School department. | seventeen summers He was engaged in laying some drain pipe and one had better he careful, Le- cause he was a cranky sort of old man. “Oh, the grammar school, That's on the lower ftoor.”’ ‘Thia with tones t ment, ‘Then, though spepee nine Bae geal nea eu In fact, it was doubtful tf he would answer any questions et all, THE PRINCIPAL AGREES TO THE Flying dirt and the point of « long TEST. shovel uppearing above the eurtace of road at regular intervals indicated the septuagenarien wes at work. The reporter stood over the hole. fo- olde was a grizzled off man in « red flannel shirt, patched trousers and rub. The investigator didn't. True to direc- tion, the principal was on the lower floor teaching the eighth grade. He assented readily lo the proposal that his bright- eat boy whould anawer the Iirt of quen- perio tlons of corresponding grade from a. tt, New York City schoo! eaneenunnres below! Are you John NEw YoR** ScrICeCLBo ‘About Mayor Gay <a out Mayor Gaynor attending here, “mares shovels of dirt came up ithoat | Rae Lec tae time, and “Yep.” see t \Wijao 1,46 however, I know nothing,” he sald. | 0! ° ¥ eR eae Ld a pause, school? Was he—cr—smart .and all, smart and don't show it young.” stopped Jeasons, while the reporter here, If ite’wan horn in thtatowatne! TY¢R." And the desing kept on, THE MAYOR WAS NOT SHOWY that?” e shovels and— Rial SHEEN COCMINEEO:T or bil the | Wialnedinteraee od ce Dilla) Have AILAHduaiCRIRGaBARON: Are Mayor Gaynor when | IN SCHOOL, | “Oh, Bill wuz all right. J | world it was like Hainlet questioning | iT WAS THERE THE MAYOR GOT “One thing more. Relieve your- &: Port “What kind of @ boy was he at; ordinary, There them what te the Krave dikger, HIS A BC'S. eelf of the idea that this is a back- have eight teachers and two wi 4 fifty prptl also follow the syllavus set down by the New York State Board of Edu- cation, If there's anythi: about that let me know. COUNTRY SCHOOLBOY AND CITY LAD SOLVE EACH OTHER’S TEST QUESTIONS Can you tell me where the threw | farms of the Gaynor estate are" | The shovel paused in mid- three farms?” “The old Gaynor estate." e shovel still remained up tn tue , this was the place where Mayor Geynor went to sohovl near- ly sixty years ago. One of the bat- tered forms with hie initials. was carried forward as evidence. Sure enough, there they were among @ hundred others cut by jackkaives ip years goue by. In sixty years there “What Ghee piesa Wernace tease | George Crandall of Whitestown| Nathan -\ronofsky of an east side beans . sewing, nature studies, drawing, || (N. ¥’.) Grammar School a ies *hool answers querie tt TOe OUTeen Pern toneme: oreatwiaes Hineler' carpentry, dancing cad efi | nswers queries| grammar school answers queries put to the “whole school. They, were divided | the rest. Our school ts right up to Gat vT put to grade in New York City school corresponding with his as follows: HISTORY, Q. Name the Presidents of the United States in whos: administrations this country was at war. 4. Madison, Jefferson, Lincoln and MoKinley. Q. What was the Missour! Compromise? A. The South wanted Missouri to come into the Union State, That would give it @ majority in Con- Gress. The North was opposed to this. Both sides fually agroed to let Maine come into the Union as @ free State ad Missouri as ® slave State, and that all territory north of 36 degrees and 30 minutes should be free States. Q. Name at least three great American statesmen who did not hold the office of President. A. Daniel Wobster, Menry Clay and Edward Everett Hale. Q. With what event or invention do you connect the names of (a) Stuyvesant, (b) Whitney, (c) Morse, (d) Cyrug W, Field, (e) Farragut? A. (8) With the patroon system of early New York City. (>) The cotton gin. (0) Telegraph. (4) Oable. (0) Battle of Mobile Bay. e brightest boy, thirteen-year-old | orge Crandall, was then summoned to the principal's office. The lat of questions {n history, civies and syntax | taken from the clty scliool was gwen to him. It is printed separately on) thts page. His answers were nearly all correct He na:ned all the Presidents, explained the Missuur! compro;mtse at learned length, missed one of the great states. | men who did not become President, told | all the events conected with the names set down and gave dates for eve nancipation Proclatn ‘ox, whieh he had not In civics he knew every-| put the meaning of “hahens cor-| and in syntax he was right up to| the minute. He Was especially strong the opposite Kenders of stag and duck. The Now York boy who had an- ewered the questions previousiy sald the female of stag Was a deer and the lady SCORED A TOTAL OF 87 PER Q. Give the dates of (a) Emancipation Proclamation, | CENT. (b) Battle of New Orleans, (c) Declaration of Inde- George Crandall recetved| | pendence, (4) Battle of Lexington, 87 por cent, on this sudden test and was! A. (a) ——. (b) 1814, (0) 1776, Gismissed with a commendatory pat on Z the shoulder by the principal, who| Deamed on him affectionately, | civics. antare he fail ROR: Aries eta Q. What are three branches of Federal Government? tetus, Ile had never A. Legislative, executive, judicial, heard of him, | Neither did he know who the Mayor of| New York City was. And Mayor Gaynor sort of Whitestown product | Met of examination questions which | had been used by the elghth grade of! the Whitestown school was then hunded the repor' which was later given teat to Nathan Aronofsky, an east side boy, who made a particularly fine! showing with them, QUESTIONS BASED ON SAME GENERAL IDEA, | These questions were used in a recent | examination and they show a marked similarity to those given to the children of corresponding grades in the New York public schools. One thing, ho ver, may be noticed about them. Th are broader jn the! cope and bring the matter studied closer in application to present things, For instance the com- Parison of the branches of government In the nation with those in the little communtty of Whitestown, In none of his answers wag the coun- try boy Mppant. He took the teat se- rtoualy, far different from the city boy who was inolined to jest. For instance in the fourth question in civics, “How is a United Btot Senator elected at the present time y boy deliber- ated Bae &) to Q. When 1s @ law unconetitutional? A. When it confitots with o man's right to life, b- erty and the pursuit of happiness, guaranteed to him under the Constitution Q. What ts “habeas corpus?” a— Q. How 1s @ United States Senator elected at the present thm a the State Legislature. Q. In order to be President of the United States what qualification must @ men have? ® native-bors American citisen over BYNTAX. mple sentence containing an attri- Construct @ g bute; underscore the attribute, A. The HABD-EZABTED man was rich. Q. Write an imperative sentence A. Do not ont that tree, Q. Write @ sentence containing e noun clau A. ‘The comm which wae ripe wae blown dows. Q. What is the plural of calf, potato, follo, child, ax? A. Calves, potatoes, folios, children, axes, Q, What ts the opposite gender of horse, lion, stag, king, duck? Srade corresponding with his in Whites- town, N. ¥., as follows: HISTORY. Q. Discuss briefly the Lewis Kk expedition, A. Lewis and Clark, explore: jout by President Jefferson to go through the Louisiana Purchase terri- tory and see what the country had got for ite money. Whey went ac far au Oregon. It wae oa the thetr expedition that the United States cinim: tory of Washington and Oregon. Q. Give the general result of the war of 1812, A. It stopped England from claiming that American seamon wero English subjects. It opened our commerce and mado us recognized as a nation Q. Napoleon Bonaparte sold us the Louisiana Terri- | tory for fifteen millions, Why? | a. Me n money. He was at war with Engiant at the time. ted with each o + 1620, 1619, 17767 1492 Columbus discovered 1497 John hea America; 1607 Jam was settled; 1620 ——; 1619 -——; 1775 War of Revolution begun. civics, @. Show three departments of government am iilus- trated in the town where you live. A. Legislative, Board of Aldermen; executive, Mayor Ama Commissioners; judicial, the City Courts. Q. Name the duties of the following officers | ve riff, District-Attorney pervisor, ® directing officer who advises and ¢: amines, as in the public schools; Sheriff, peace oflcer of the county; District-Attorney, conductor of the canes at law for the government, Q. How does @ bill presented in the State become a law? A. It has to be passed by both houses and then sent to the Governor. If he signs it it becomes « law. Q. Tell the advantage of Indirect taxation & You don't feel yourself losing the mozrey which | you would have to pay anyway in order to run the gov- | ernment, Q. What histor! the following dates Super- gisiature SYNTAX Q. What ta a declarative sentence? Write one A. Oue that simply states something as eo. For tn- etance, 3 Live in New York. Q. What i# @ conjunction? A conjunctive clause? 4. Gomething that connects two words, phrases or clauses, as The boy who broke the window. “Who bro window" is @ conjunctive clause. Q. Mlustrate tn two wentences the proper use of the | words will and shall, “Melp me or I shall drown” ts the sight way. “Melp me or Z will Grows" would mean that he was going to commit suicide. Q. What t# a double negative? Why is tt wrong? 4. “He hee not got no money” would be a donble Regative, Two negatives make an affirmative. grades a little (very ittle), ike the way of modern ‘bout four mile from schools. Their ages uriske That's seven mile from | ranged from a five-year tot learning the nore, i ‘i alphabet to fourteen-year-old Bana Recd, uth was out. In Skeet-/ who was the whole eighth grade. Their the reporter continued tot school house there Gaynor attended an a lessona were recited aloud, digturbing 0. there a distr! | | | | At tant Ie | Mayor dings, “To the right of us le the Cherry HIN district, to the lett te Chinatown and_in front of us 1s the Bowery, Study that combination and write your article wit} that. fact in view.” Tf there was any need of apology for the result of the test what the prinet- pal said might be taken into agcount as an excuse. Probably from listening to the oft-repeated, claim of country) aupertority he had come to believe his school was not as far advanced as those up-State, But what was the actual remult? The city sthool, despite ite disadvantages, proved itself the equal the superior of ite country, Young Nathan A-onofsky came inte, the principal's office for thi tion, Hin case was no dit thousands of othe! in Ne rn public schools. He had come to country at the age of four. When he entered school at six years, he could not speak a word of the English len- guage. Now he was thirteen and in the graduating class. After glancing at the questions Be was asked to ani emiled up at his principal. sh I cowla have @ graduation examisation,” he sald. jonest, teacher, I'd come dewn late and go home early.” ANSWERED ALL QU! hi fest & sett To be eure, there are those ati! hark back fondly to i Red School House on the ‘They will praise it on every occasion, ‘They will tel how much better they @id things tn ‘my boyhood days.” ‘They may oven ve 6 son about tt, Dute and here's the point: Ite very dat tt ton true! | boy | ‘Two shovels, | thar, longe Jain't changed a bit" HARD SCRATCHING IN MAYOR'S EARLY DAYS. “Do you kn anything about atly He of the Mayor?" (ho reply Was news to the questioner wid perhaps to some others. ‘This time the shovel was lafd on the ‘up of dirt above the hole and the hoveller assumed an exasperated alr, ‘al, J only know what every har ts. It's standin’ remember, an’ it we the one knows. Bill's dad emigrated from Tipper: Ey same as mine aid. Me had ohin’ along, same as ®@ lot of inconvent- days. ‘The hardest thing was religion. ® Catholic church nearer than Utica, ‘leven mile away, | but Bill's dad wae ® good Irishman and he made him party. can tell you. McOormioks, up in Skeeterbo: | Seven miles of deep, muddy roads in lan open buggy brought the reporter to | ‘the Gaynor homestead, on Cider street. | | ‘Tiere wae a house and barn. ‘The barn | oket large and roomy, A mntle further | ng Cider street, whieh ts not a eet all, stood the long sought re at last was th 1 ai thing. Now sone story of ke the el on the road. The ancient chimnoy leaned sadly to one alde was no paint on the walls, whic: on with age, The wooden ste 6 narrow entrance was broken Heavy barred shutters swung from the Jonly “two winde the place boasted The windows were tn the ancient style, CHRISTMAS | being made of many small panes o Klass, Some of these panes were miss GOLD j!ng, probably @ primitt jeans taken Ricks rat No employer » afford entiation inmide tie door Ataclose: cs A ted hot, old-fas coat, Welte!or in the centre, About OPE BY. fourteen children at tine forms, On the wall was pinned a sorry looking inap of North America. The fluor was rekety, but © all the piace recked, I ot | seal gure Baa gy Mie eye Be ELIABLE CRE came from the broken windows on one side. ‘The teacher, @ tired-louking women, - Furs for Holiday Gifts Large Assortments of Ali esirabie ‘urs, | C. G. Gunther's Sons 801 Fifth Avenue at 86th Street, New York. WATCHES ann IAMON D F.CN CREDIT. 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